When you get a Customer to come back to your Restaurant again and again, it gives you the opportunity to really get to know them. The better you know them, the better you can serve them. You get to know their idiosyncrasies, their wants, their needs, the type of dining experience they enjoy, the things they don't enjoy or the things that will make them angry, and so you can do a much better job at serving them.

There was an interesting survey that was done where they asked the owner/manager of a business how important they thought that their own personal relationship with each Customer was to that Customer. The response averaged about 10% rating in as being very important. When the Customer was asked the very same question, it rose to nearly 70%. So there is a big difference between what the Customers actually want, compared to what the business is actually delivering.

If you are going to have effective Word of Mouth Advertising, you need to separate the mechanical things in the Restaurant from the actual Guest services. Some things are just expected. Ordering, preparing and cooking quality food is just expected. So is cleanliness of all kinds. The challenge; the opportunity that you have is serving and creating a fantastic dining experience for the Guest. You must perfect your internal systems and you need people in the kitchen that are obsessed with the quality of the food because if the quality of the food is not there, the Guest is not going to come back. In the front of the Restaurant, you need to build relationships. You need to have a memorable dining experience for each and every Guest.

The story is told about Marshall Field, the great Chicago merchant who had the highest volume single retail store in the world. Marshall Field invented the statement: "The Customer is always right!" One day, Mr. Field saw one of his sales clerks giving a lady a hassle. When he called the sales person aside, he asked: "What's going on?" The sales clerk responded: "Well, this lady is trying to return this tablecloth and she's used it. There's gravy stains on it, I can see them." Then the clerk said: "I don't think I should give her, her money back."

Marshall Field simply stated: "Give the lady her money back, give her what she wants, the Customer is always right." Then Mr. Field stated, "Oh, by the way, I was at her house last night having dinner and I spilled the gravy." What Marshall Field was saying is regardless of the situation, the Customer is always right. The idea is to build relationships and build a reputation for taking care of the Customer under all circumstances.

Whether the Customer is right or wrong does not really matter. Don't give them a hassle. The important thing is that the Customer "feels good" when they leave your Restaurant.

One of the big problems in America is that we have had bad service for so long that people actually expect it. People have quit complaining because from experience they have found that it doesn't do any good. It has been said that we have dehumanized service. We've taken the human element out of it. So what a great opportunity you have to reverse this fact in your Restaurant. The Customer is always right and you will profit greatly from it as your Employees build relationships with your Guests and make the Guest "feel good".

When you take this approach, you will find that you will generate Positive Word of Mouth Advertising. There is a rule that says: "Bad news does not get any better with age." When you have a Customer that talks to you about a problem, train your Employees to say: "You know, I've heard what you just said and it looks like we made an error. Let me ask you this, what can I do to make you happy?"

The Bible says the quickest way to quiet an angry person is to give them a gift. and when you do this, you are sending a message to the Guest that says: "I care about you. You're important to me."